The first car of ore was mined, and shipped to a smelter. The returns proved they
had one of the richest mines in Colorado! A few more cars of that ore would clear the
debts. Then would come the big killing in profits.
Down went the drills! Up went the hopes of Darby and Uncle! Then something
happened! The vein of gold ore disappeared! They had come to the end of the
rainbow, and the pot of gold was no longer there! They drilled on, desperately trying
to pick up the vein again—all to no avail.
Finally, they decided to QUIT.They sold the machinery to a junk man for a few hundred dollars, and took the
train back home. Some "junk" men are dumb, but not this one! He called in a mining
engineer to look at the mine and do a little calculating. The engineer advised that the
project had failed, because the owners were not familiar with "fault lines." His
calculations showed that the vein would be found JUST THREE FEET FROM WHERE
THE DARBYS HAD STOPPED DRILLING! That is exactly where it was found!
The "Junk" man took millions of dollars in ore from the mine, because he knew
enough to seek expert counsel before giving up.
Most of the money which went into the machinery was procured through